Wanna see my picture on the cover ...
Wanna buy five copies for my mother ...
Wanna see my smilin' face on the cover of the Rolling Stone.
- Shel Silverstein
Well, perhaps The Citizen's weekly local entertainment guide, Go, does not have quite the same stature as Rolling Stone magazine, but it does have at least one thing in common with that famous publication. People are eager to be on its cover.
Unfortunately, there is only one Go cover each week. And as much as some folks might like to grumble that there isn't much to do in these parts, especially in the winter, we're often having a debate about which community event should be featured on the front of the Go section. This past week was no exception. Take a look at today's calendar page in the Lake Life section to see what I'm talking about.
Feedback from event organizers suggests that getting the Go cover slot can provide a nice boost, so we often get requests for it.
While organizers generally are happy when we have any story in the Go section on their events, we do have the occasional person who is quite disappointed to be passed over for the cover.
Here's my best effort to explain how we make that decision:
Each Wednesday, we have a meeting to discuss content for the following week's Go section (take note event organizers - the earlier you get us information, the better chance we have to take it on as a full-blown story). At that meeting, we go over all of the events we know about, and then figure out where they should be placed in the section.
Events that make the cover are typically ones that would appeal to a wider audience. Something that would only interest a small segment of our readership probably should be placed on an inside page of the section.
We also have to consider whether the event lends itself to a visually appealing cover. We aim to come up with eye-catching, clever photography for the front of Go.
Other factors can also play a role. We seek variety from week to week. That's one reason why you didn't see two ice fishing derby covers in consecutive weeks this month, although there have been two popular derbies scheduled.
We also want variety from year to year. Though there have certainly been exceptions, we try to avoid putting the same annual events on the cover each year.
We hope our Go cover serves not only to intrigue people about the event, but also is interesting enough to get readers to look at the entire section.
Executive editor Jeremy Boyer's column runs Saturdays in
The Citizen and he can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231 or jeremy.boyer@lee.net
Wanna see my smilin' face on the cover of the Rolling Stone.
- Shel Silverstein
Well, perhaps The Citizen's weekly local entertainment guide, Go, does not have quite the same stature as Rolling Stone magazine, but it does have at least one thing in common with that famous publication. People are eager to be on its cover.
Unfortunately, there is only one Go cover each week. And as much as some folks might like to grumble that there isn't much to do in these parts, especially in the winter, we're often having a debate about which community event should be featured on the front of the Go section. This past week was no exception. Take a look at today's calendar page in the Lake Life section to see what I'm talking about.
Feedback from event organizers suggests that getting the Go cover slot can provide a nice boost, so we often get requests for it.
While organizers generally are happy when we have any story in the Go section on their events, we do have the occasional person who is quite disappointed to be passed over for the cover.
Here's my best effort to explain how we make that decision:
Each Wednesday, we have a meeting to discuss content for the following week's Go section (take note event organizers - the earlier you get us information, the better chance we have to take it on as a full-blown story). At that meeting, we go over all of the events we know about, and then figure out where they should be placed in the section.
Events that make the cover are typically ones that would appeal to a wider audience. Something that would only interest a small segment of our readership probably should be placed on an inside page of the section.
We also have to consider whether the event lends itself to a visually appealing cover. We aim to come up with eye-catching, clever photography for the front of Go.
Other factors can also play a role. We seek variety from week to week. That's one reason why you didn't see two ice fishing derby covers in consecutive weeks this month, although there have been two popular derbies scheduled.
We also want variety from year to year. Though there have certainly been exceptions, we try to avoid putting the same annual events on the cover each year.
We hope our Go cover serves not only to intrigue people about the event, but also is interesting enough to get readers to look at the entire section.
Executive editor Jeremy Boyer's column runs Saturdays in
The Citizen and he can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231 or jeremy.boyer@lee.net
The Citizens' Say
There are 2 comment(s)
David wrote on Feb 26, 2007 11:05 PM:
just out of curiosity wrote on Feb 24, 2007 9:02 AM: